Tim Bird brings Yorkshire, England to Bicycle Quarterly readers. We eagerly anticipate every one of his adventures and stories. (The latest is in the Spring 2013 Bicycle Quarterly.) He immerses us in the landscape, culture and history of the countryside. I especially like the unique and storied names of towns, brooks, mountains and roads; I want to pull out a map and find each of them.

While we discussed ideas for future articles, he sent this inspirational photo. I feel like I just crested that hill and want to ride down that road. Don’t you want to be there, too?

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About Jan Heine, Editor, Bicycle Quarterly

I love cycling and bicycles, especially those that take us off the beaten path. I edit Bicycle Quarterly magazine, and occasionally write for other publications. One of our companies, Bicycle Quarterly Press publishes cycling books, while Compass Bicycles Ltd. makes and distributes high-quality bicycle components for real-world riders.

36 Responses to Wish We Could Ride Into This Photo

Beautiful! That photo. makes me think of the great old PBS show “All Creatures Great and Small” that was set in “the North country” of Yorkshire.
Speaking of the latest BQ issue, I finally received mine yesterday. It seems to consistently arrive a week or more after folks far East of me receive theirs. Quite annoying, I must say. Oh well, carry on, my good man!

Mr. Bird’s first article, “A Day Out in the Yorkshires Dales” appeared in BQ, Vol. 10, No. 1, August 2011. I read his story twice and each time I had the same wish to ride in the Dales and perhaps transport myself into the settings of Frank Paterson’s lovely pen and ink drawings.

I’m in France and received my BQ yesterday, I immediately read it cover to cover then went to my atelier and weighed my ‘front and rear seated weights’. 10 minutes later I had 50 psi in my front & 75 psi in my rear (Grand Bois 700 x 32’s ) doing rolling tests on the lane outside in my velvet slippers. For those that like a good read about English roads, I heartily recommend Roff Smith’s ‘My Bicycle and I’ blog.

I’m a big fan of Tim Bird’s cycling stories, and hope to do one of those rides on one of my visits to my daughter (also an avid cyclist) who lives in London. While driving from London to Wales for Christmas 2011, I was practically crawling out the car window as we drove through the most impossibly green rolling country I’d ever seen. And I live in the Northwest! This recent Yorkshire story is wonderul, and certainly makes one yearn for fair days, open roads, and time for such travels. The colour photo at the top of this blog is almost more than one can bear. Truly lovely.

Got my copy of BQ on Friday, and enjoyed reading both the extensive tire tests, and the Bird adventure report. Would you consider including a map with future ride reports? I would have had a much easier time following the Bird ride with even a simple map of towns and milestones in the area. Thanks for the interesting articles.

If it can’t easily fit among a printed page, maybe a reference to the website where you could post a more detailed map would be suitable. I have a much easier time following a cycling story if there’s a route that I can see to visualize the distances, especially if it shows topography too.

We strongly feel that the print edition should stand alone. The last thing I want to do when reading a magazine is having to get up and to a computer so I can get the additional information. As I said, we are working on this. It just requires more than just a simple pre-packaged solution from a GPS web site.

Addressing the idea of “Wishing we could ride into this photo,” how about a photo contest and/or a Great Rides section with photos item for BQ, similar to My Favorite Bike? ‘Suggest these be visually-oriented with light copy.

Yes, I like to do that one too!! We did something like this two years ago in Lincolnshire while doing some family history. Nicest people loaned us their bikes. Beautiful views in all directions. Rapeseed (Canola) was in full bloom. Pheasants along the road as in the Yorksire article.